Love
Love God, love self, love others
29 October 2023
The Intersection of Love, Justice, and Personal Annoyances The Annoyances of Life and the Call for Justice I found myself reflecting on the various things that annoy me, such as people not adhering to traffic rules. It’s a common enough grievance, but it led me to a deeper conversation about the importance of justice and…
Grumbling Generosity
24 September 2023
“God is generous and God will pour himself out as much as we are able to receive. And our lives are about growing in that capacity to be able to be used and to receive the goodness of God.” Fr Richard Healey So many of us have a whole mix of memories from our childhood,…
Into stormy silence
13 August 2023
There are so many situations that we face in our lives where. It’s we’re just. Overwhelmed. But things just get too much for us and I think. Both our first reading and our gospel today, when we read the bigger context, provide those. Why does Jesus need that alone time well earlier on in the…
Body and Nephesh
25 June 2023
Play MP3 This year the last few Sundays seem to have been inviting us to reflect upon the very essence of who God is, how we stand in the presence of God, how we make sense of the nature, the quality of God. Last week, the Apostles were first named as such: they were sent…
Chosen
7 May 2023
Easter – Sunday 5 Play MP3 Watch video Resources 00:00:00 Sometimes it can be really difficult to accept the simple claims that the gospel makes to know that we are indeed loved with this amazing intimacy of life and goodness to trust. 00:00:21 That God actually wants us to have that experience of this intimacy,…
Resurrection Bodies
9 April 2023
Easter, New Creation, Seasons, Teaching
First Reading ‡ Acts 10:34.36-43We have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 117:1-2.16-17.22-23This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. Second Reading (option 1) ‡ Colossians 3:1-4Look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is. Gospel ‡ John 20:1-9The…
Passionate love revealed
3 April 2023
Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday, Year A Commemoration of the Lord’s EntranceYear A ‡ Matthew 21:1-11Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the Mass First Reading ‡ Isaiah 50:4-7 I did not cover my face against insult and I know I will not be ashamed. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 21:8-9.17-20.23-24 My…
Called in love
17 March 2023
17 March – St Patrick, evangelist First Reading ‡ Jeremiah 1:4-9 Go now to those to whom I send you. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 116 Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. Second Reading ‡ Acts 13:46-49 We must turn to the pagans. Gospel ‡ Luke 10:1-12.17-20 Your peace will rest on…
Living in Integrity
12 February 2023
Sunday 6, Year A. First Reading ‡ Sirach 15:15-20He never commanded anyone to be godless. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 118:1-2.4-5.17-18.33-34Happy are they who follow the law of the Lord! Second Reading ‡ 1 Corinthians 2:6-10God in his wisdom predestined our glory before the ages began. Gospel [longer form] ‡ Matthew 5:17-37Such was said to your ancestors;…
All are welcome
27 August 2022
Sunday 22 in Year C First Reading ‡ Sirach 3:17-20.27-28Humble yourself and you will find favour with the Lord.Responsorial ‡ Psalm 67:4-7.10-11God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor. Second Reading ‡ Hebrews 12:18-19.22-24You have to come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God.Gospel ‡ Luke 14:1.7-14All…
Fire of Love
14 August 2022
First Reading ‡ Jeremiah 38:4-6.8-10You bore me to be a man of strife for the whole world. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 39:2-4.18Lord, come to my aid! Second Reading ‡ Hebrews 12:1-4Let us bear patiently the struggle placed upon us. Gospel ‡ Luke 12:49-53I have come not to give peace, but discord. Play MP3Sunday resource
Invitation to love
11 June 2022
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year C
TRINITY SUNDAY – The divine dance The biggest challenge in approaching a deeper understanding of the nature of God is being Western. Having a Western mind is really useful for science and computing + engineering. It is really not all that helpful for God. It began with the Greeks who loved making distinctions and treating…
Called to be Beloved Disciples
14 April 2022
Holy Thursday reflection Something amazing happened in the life of the beloved disciple. Tradition holds that John, the author of the fourth gospel, was the youngest of the 12 apostles. He is the only apostle who died in old age. The others were all martyred. The gospel that carries his name is an extraordinary achievement,…
Offering
7 November 2021
1 Kings 17:10-16 The widow made a little scone from her flour meal and brought it to Elijah.Mark 12:38-44 This poor widow has put more in than all who contributed.Play MP3Watch video Generated Transcript So we are in November and this is the 32nd Sunday in the year, so we’re definitely getting towards the pointy end of…
The command to love
24 October 2020
Anger is a difficult emotion that perhaps gets a bad reputation from our experience as children and being told that it is wrong to feel angry. Yet in our first reading from Exodus 22:20-26 we hear about the kinds of things that make God angry – when the widows, the orphans, the strangers, the foreigners,…
Hope of New Creation 3 – Heaven and Paradise
8 May 2016
Easter, New Creation, Seasons, Series, Teaching
On this feast of the Ascension, we ponder the event of Jesus ascending into heaven as told in the Lukan literature – the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. The other synoptic Gospels do not record the event at all, and John only hints at it by telling Mary of Magdala that…
The Holy Dysfunctional Family
27 December 2015
Flowing directly out of the celebration of Christmas this year we have the opportunity to reflect upon not only the holy family of Nazareth, but also our own conceptions and ideas of family. In my case, I know that many of my most basic understandings of family came from comparing the idealised image of family…
Submission to the Messiah
23 August 2015
Radio Program, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year B
The Gospel this Sunday concludes our readings from John 6 where Jesus now addresses himself only to his disciples, rather than to the whole crowd. We hear that many of his disciples draw back and grumble and complain about the teaching of Jesus. Not because they could not understand what he is saying, but because…
Discovering the breadth and depth of God’s love for the saints
12 June 2015
The scriptures given to us today for the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus take us to the very centre of our faith and our relationship with God revealed in and through Jesus. The gospel ends with the declaration in the Gospel of John that we will look on the one whom they have…
Called and chosen to love
10 May 2015
We often struggle with some very basic questions – like who are we? When we meet people for the first time, conversations invariably begin with a process of classification – so, what do you do? Where do you live? The Gospel today takes us to a much deeper place in our relationship with God. It…
A God who is rich in mercy
15 March 2015
Beginnings and endings are always significant. How you start a story – and how you end a story create so much of the impact of the whole story. We know well how the Bible begins – “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…” (Gen 1:1) We might even know how the…
Heaven, hell and God’s love
6 October 2012
This workshop was presented during the Ignite Conference 2012 – Awaken. It is in part a response to the book written by Rob Bell, called ‘Love Wins’ which was published in 2011. This is the description of the workshop: Rob Bell challenged the Church to rethink heaven and hell in his book Love Wins. This seminar…
Love beyond walls
13 May 2012
Discipleship, Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Teaching, Year B
In the first century, the standard expression of the Jewish faiths was strongly influenced by the Pharisees, the most populous of the many forms of Jewish sects that were active at the time. Unlike other groups which were often on the fringes of Jewish society or groups such as the Sadducees which were deeply embedded…
Children of the Shepherd God
29 April 2012
Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
I am sure that if many parishioners ever bother to listen to the first line of the second reading today, they either choose to ignore it or doubt that it can actually be true. It is a rather extraordinary claim: ‘think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be…
Stations of the Cross Reflection
6 April 2012
A brief reflection offered at the end of the Stations of the Cross, celebrated at St Paul’s, Camden on Good Friday morning. Play MP3 Length: 2’15” A full recording of the service (slightly edited to reduce some of the silences and not including the final multimedia) Play Full Service mp3 Length: 40’05”
Let them go up to worship in love
18 March 2012
Lent, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
A Jew would recognise our first reading today as the very last passage in the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. English bibles have tended to reorganise the order of the books in the Old Testament, so that we no longer follow the three-part division of the Tanakh into Torah (the Law), Nevi’im (the Prophets) and Ketuvim…
Learning to love
22 October 2011
There is nothing unusual in the question that Jesus is asked in our Gospel today (Matthew 22:34-40) – students would regularly ask visiting Rabbis this question – which is the greatest commandment. When there are 613 mitzva (commandments) to choose from in the books of Moses (the Torah or Pentateuch) it is no wonder that…
Hair and tears
12 June 2010
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year C
11th Sunday in the Season of the Year. Also Immaculate Heart of Mary (Diocesan Feast) and Mission Sunday Appeal. Also the Sunday when my move to Fairy Meadow Parish was announced… Announcement of Co-Cathedral Like a great artistic masterpiece, Luke tells the story of the day that a Pharisee invited Jesus to a festive meal,…